. >> madam speaker, the president of the united states. >> obama decided this was an issue he needed to take on early in his presidency or forfeit it entirely. >> chris, picking up your co commentary there, how much of this fight is still about the president's decision on health care reform? >> well, i think the republicans think it's a bad thing. even though it's something that american presidents have really argued for since the days of teddy roosevelt. certainly all progressives, all of them including harry truman and kennedy and johnsens and going back to both roosevelts. it's something that's always been on the progressive agenda and never been realized. of course conservatives are opposed to it. they were opposed to social security and medicare and medicaid and unemployment composition and child labor laws and minimum wage. i was just reading this book about the young winston churchill in the early part of last century. the politics haven't changed. they haven't changed. it's the same old arguments. predictable opposition to social progress. >> indeed. >> it shouldn't be notewo